Michael Young

England (1966)

Born in Britain, international design maverick Michael Young got into the field because he believed it would allow him to do, basically, whatever he wanted. For this renowned industrial designer, this has turned out to be true. After studying furniture and product design at Kingston University, he launched Michael Young Studio in 1992, and soon headed to Iceland. His studio then moved to Brussels, Taipei and, finally, to Hong Kong in 2003, where he now resides. Sometimes. “I’ve actually always wanted to get my life to a point where I can be wherever I want to at any point in time,” he says.

Setting up shop in Hong Kong was a savvy and calculated move for Young. It places him in the center of manufacturing and has given him direct access to the Asian factories that build his creative concepts. And all this without the pretense of the European scene: “Design isn’t about it marketing,” says Young. “It’s about industrialization.” In his work – which has included all types of furniture, interiors and products like the City Storm bicycle for Giant, the Sabar Sextoy vibrator for Kiki de Montparnasse New York, and state-of-the-art wireless speakers for Eops – Young pulls influences from all these experiences, melding east and west. This is evidenced in his intricate use of folded paper, which he specified for a furniture collection for Established & Sons, as well as the interior of the Pissaro restaurant in Hong Kong.

Art, design and manufacturing merge holistically in the creative eyes of Michael Young. He has boldly refused to adhere to traditional modernist design constraints and has, through his unique eye, created a new visual language. As the cover of a 1999 book about the designer states, his approach is about the letter “F”: “fun, fervour, form, farting, fantasies, function, frivolity, f***ing and flavor.”

To hear these and more quotes spoken by the designer himself, check out this video on the life and legacy of Michael Young: http://vimeo.com/13995630